The Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research (NLCAHR) was established in September 1999 as a joint venture of the Department of Health and Community Services, the Health Care Corporation of St. John’s and Memorial University of Newfoundland. Since its inception, the Centre has provided support for applied health research in the province through its grant and awards programs, its knowledge transfer activities and its capacity development services.

NLCAHR's mission is to contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of the health and community service system of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the physical, social, psychological health and well-being of the province's population by supporting the development and the use of applied health research in this province

The Centre’s work revolves around three principal goals:

to help build human capacity and organizational resources for undertaking and supporting high-quality applied health research in the province;

to increase the amount and impact of high-quality applied health research undertaken on the priority research themes of Newfoundland and Labrador; and

to help increase the effective use of research evidence in the province’s health and community services system.

NLCAHR fosters and supports inter-disciplinary collaboration and serves as a bridge between researchers and decision-makers in government, the provincial healthcare system and community organizations. The Centre funds health research through annual peer-reviewed research grant competitions; supports research training by awarding fellowships at the master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral levels; and runs a number of other programs to encourage and support applied health researchers in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Centre’s flagship knowledge exchange program, the Contextualized Health Research Synthesis Program (CHRSP), is a collaborative effort of researchers and health system leaders that seeks to identify urgent issues involving health services and health technologies that are of pressing interest to Newfoundland and Labrador. CHRSP teams work to identify the highest quality research on these issues and to interpret it in light of the unique geographic, economic, demographic and other characteristics of this province.

The research supported by the Centre is broad in scope and includes research in the areas of health services delivery and evaluation, health economics and policy, healthcare utilization and systems, community and population health, health-related social sciences, and applied clinical research focussing on the process of delivering care rather than therapeutics or diagnostics.

Further information may be obtained by contacting the Centre in writing to the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research, Suite 300, 95 Bonaventure Avenue, St. John's, NL, A1B 2X5, or telephone at (709) 777-6993, or fax at (709) 777-6734, or e-mail at nlcahr@mun.ca, or through the website at www.nlcahr.mun.ca.